Many electrical applications require a wire terminal to be crimped onto a wire. These applications include crimping a terminal onto a wire which is a part of a motor vehicle starting system. A wire terminal typically has a connector at one end and a barrel at the other. The connector facilitates attaching the terminal to an electrical component. The barrel is usually cylindrical in shape and is designed to receive an electrical wire. Most electrical terminals are fabricated from a malleable metal such as copper or brass. In order to attach the wire to the terminal the wire is inserted into the barrel of the terminal. The barrel is then crimped with a tool which compresses the barrel and causes the wire to be securely attached to it.
Motor vehicle mechanics often need to replace the wire terminal attached to a battery cable. Because of the proximity of such battery cable terminals to battery acid it is common for the terminals to become corroded. It then becomes desirable to change the battery cable terminal in order to provide a better electrical connection. This is done by removing the existing wire terminal from the cable and crimping a new terminal onto the cable.
Several tools currently facilitate the crimping of a wire terminal onto a wire. One is a hammer style crimping tool. This tool consists of a frame and a pin. The frame has a seat for receiving the barrel of a wire terminal which has a wire inserted into it. The pin is raised and the wire terminal and wire are placed into the seat. The pin is then hammered in order to crimp the barrel of the terminal onto the wire. The hammer style crimper requires sufficient operating room within which to swing the hammer and a solid working surface to perform the crimping process. This need for space and solid support often requires that the wire or cable assembly be removed from its existing installation to perform this repair. For example, a battery cable may need to be removed from a motor vehicle in order to crimp a new wire terminal onto it. The hammer style crimper often requires two persons to be involved in the crimping process. One holds and guides the wire and terminal while the other hammers the pin of the tool.
A second type of crimping tool is a lever style crimping tool. The lever style crimping tool has a set of jaws, a fulcrum and a set of levers. It has an appearance similar to the appearance of a bolt cutter. However, the jaws are adapted to crimp a wire terminal rather than to cut it. In order to crimp a terminal onto a wire one end of the wire is inserted into the barrel of a wire terminal. The wire terminal and wire are then placed into the jaws of the crimper. The levers are used to cause the jaws to apply a compressive force to the barrel of the terminal and thereby crimp the barrel onto the wire. There also exists a bench mounted version of the lever style crimping tool. The bench mounted version has only one lever but operates on the same principles as the two lever crimping tool. The lever style crimping tool suffers from some of the same drawbacks as the hammer style crimping tool. The space needed to operate it often requires that the wire or cable assembly be removed from the workpiece to which it is attached. Two persons are often required to crimp a wire terminal onto a wire. One person holds and guides the wire and terminal, while the other compresses the levers. An additional drawback of the lever style crimping tool is its cost of manufacture. It has multiple moving parts which must be synchronized with each other. This results in a relatively high design and manufacturing cost.
There is a need for an improved wire crimping tool having the following qualities. It would be compact and easy to manufacture. It could be operated by one person. It could be used in confined areas such as under the hood of a motor vehicle and under a motor vehicle. It would facilitate the replacement of a wire terminal without the wire being removed from its pre-existing environment and connection. It would retain the wire and terminal in place while the tool is being operated. It could be used to crimp wire terminals having a variety of barrel sizes.